Nordstorm Inc. earnings reveal decline in profits

Luxury stores are the hardest hit by the on-going recession. After the closure of e-luxury and the continuous losses over at Neiman and Marcus another luxury store seems to have crumbled to the harsh effects of the recession. The latest victim is the chain of Nordstorm stores. Nordstrom Inc., reports that the affluent shoppers have retrenched after years of splurging on designer goods and are no longer willing to pay any price for status. The luxury store said last week that its July same-store sales or sales at stores open at least a year, declined 6.9 percent from a year earlier.

For the second quarter, analysts on average forecast a profit of 48 cents per share on revenue of $2.14 billion compared to the 65 cents per share that Nordstorm earned last year. Analysts also claim that the coming months will be really challenging for the luxury store who is working with designers to lower their prices. As for stock performance, the shares of Nordstrom rose 10 percent over the quarter, which ended Aug. 1, and they have more than doubled since early this year. The stock is about 8 percent higher than it was a year ago.
Overall a challenging time for the luxury store, it needs to work on new marketing strategies to survive this harsh economic climate.
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